Munster Senior Hurling Semi-Final – Tipperary 4-19 Clare 1-19

Tipperary survive Banner storm

By SEÁN MORAN at Gaelic Grounds, Limerick for the Irish Times newspaper

GAA: Tipperary 4-19 Clare 1-19 : FOR ANYONE flicking through the pages of an old record book in years to come, yesterday’s Munster hurling semi-final will look, stripped to its essentials, an obvious enough outcome: a comfortable win, which moved the All-Ireland champions serenely into next month’s provincial final against Waterford. Without crying out for the intervention of a revisionist historian, that impression will be a little unfair to a Clare side, who bristled with all the indignation of the casually dismissed and for an electric first 20 minutes led on the scoreboard and singed Tipperary with their darting movement and impeccable shooting.

Everyone can look back and say that the superiority and class of the favourites’ attack meant they always had it in them to wipe out an unexpected deficit but there was no mistaking the anxiety caused by the ragged attempts of their defence, as it tried to cope in the early stages. At half-time Declan Ryan replaced the right side of his defence, withdrawing David Young and John O’Keeffe, who in his second championship outing had been under the hammer in his contest with impressive Clare debutant Conor McGrath. McGrath fired the first flare with under a minute on the clock, turning his man and racing in for a goal. Four minutes later Diarmuid McMahon blocked Shane McGrath and pointed and within a further minute, McGrath had snapped up a loose clearance and sent it over the bar. In the eighth minute Fergal Lynch picked up the ball 70 metres out and it soared over for a 1-3 to nil lead.

Of course it was too early to be definitive but Tipp had to pull out of the tailspin. Slowly they got a couple of scores up but Clare hit back to preserve the six-point differential. The thrill of the unexpected effectively died in a five-minute spell at the end of the first quarter when the underdogs were hit by three goals. Firstly, Eoin Kelly lashed home a ball that ran loose after John O’Brien had broken a high, dropping delivery from the excellent Pádraic Maher, who did a lot of fire-brigade work in the first half and maintained his performance throughout the match to earn the Man of the Match citation. Twice Clare pushed the margin back to four with points from John Conlon and Darrach Honan but two minutes after Kelly’s goal Patrick Maher – whose appetite for and success in pursuing any loose ball played an important role in his team’s turnaround – broke from a posse of defenders, kept going and took the goal well. After another two minutes Lar Corbett drifted on to a ball on the left wing, took the ball right in and was somehow allowed to get his shot off and it found the net.

At 3-3 to 1-7, Tipp would lose the lead just once and even then for just a minute before Kelly and Pádraic Maher re-established it. Although the rapacity of Tipp’s forwards was adjudged the main platform for victory, Brendan Cummins in goal provided plenty of reassurance at the back. Before half-time the veteran goalkeeper made a smart save from Cathal McInerney and Pádraic Maher cleared up the field to Noel McGrath for a score, a four-point turnaround. Just before the break, when an all-in Clare attack was threatening the goalmouth, Cummins emerged from a thicket of players and ran the ball clear before hitting it to safety.

Tipperary made the changes at the break and a few minutes into the half, could have had a couple more goals. Noel McGrath kicked the ball into the net only for play to be called back for a penalty that Eoin Kelly rattled off the crossbar, and then Pat Donnellan made the vital intervention to stop an admittedly ordinary shot from Corbett. A string of points for Tipperary, including further scores for Séamus Callanan – whose 1-5 brought his total for the championship after two matches to 1-10 from play – put the match beyond doubt after which lassitude set in. Tipp ended the second half with nine wides and their waning interest in accuracy eventually prompted Clare to resume scoring after 15 blank minutes.

They got the margin down to five by the end of normal time but Callanan reacted to sweep home the rebound after Corbett’s shot had come off the butt of the upright, and Shane McGrath added a point for a comfortable win, albeit by a flattering margin. Tipperary will be happy that they responded as emphatically as they did to the early run on them. From the 16th minute they won the remainder of the match by 15 points. Gearóid Ryan was again solid in centrefield whereas Maher and Conor O’Mahony asserted themselves in the half backs and at full back Paul Curran effectively policed Honan. Referee James Owens took the art of non-intervention to Parnassian levels, awarding just 14 frees over the course of the 70 minutes, ignoring an early scatter without even recourse to a card and generally making players earn any awards the hard way. It took Clare over 20 minutes to get their first free, a scarcity that irked manager Ger O’Loughlin.

TIPPERARY: 1 B Cummins; 2 J O’Keeffe, 3 P Curran, 4 M Cahill; 5 D Young, 6 C O’Mahony, 7 Pádraic Maher (0-2); 9 S McGrath (0-2), 8 G Ryan (0-2); 11 N McGrath (0-3), 10 S Callanan (1-5), 12 Patrick Maher (1-0); 13 E Kelly (1-3, 0-2 frees), 14 J O’Brien, 15 L Corbett (1-0). Subs: S Lillis for Young, P Stapleton for O’Keeffe (both half-time), P Bourke (0-2) for O’Brien (45 mins), J Woodlock for Ryan (62 mins), J Coghlan for Curran (70 mins). Yellow cards: Young (24 mins), Kelly (28 mins).

CLARE: 1 P Brennan; 2 P Vaughan, 4 C Dillon, 3 C Cooney; 5 P O’Connor, 7 P Donnellan, 6 J McInerney (0-1, free); 8 N O’Connell (0-1), 9 J Clancy (0-2); 10 J Conlon (0-3), 11 F Lynch (0-1), 13 D McMahon (0-2); 12 C McInerney (0-2), 14 D Honan (0-1), 15 C McGrath (1-6, 0-4 frees). Subs: C O’Donovan for O’Connell (55 mins), C Ryan for Honan (68 mins), C Morey for McMahon (72 mins). Yellow cards: Vaughan (20 mins), Lynch (33 mins), J McInerney (41 mins).

Referee: J Owens (Wexford)

Kelly pounces to keep Tipp in cruise control

By Colm Keys for the Irish Independent newspaper

Panic is not a state of mind you should associate with All-Ireland champions and so it was in the Gaelic Grounds where the spin-offs from last September were clearly in evidence for Tipperary. Hit by just about everything an eager and fearless Clare team could throw at them in the opening quarter, Tipperary calmly absorbed it with the mark of a team that knew how far they could allow their opponents to stray before calling them back to order. Like a champion boxer they leaned against the ropes, sized up the best shots that came at them and picked off their own measured responses with ruthless efficiency to book a Munster final against Waterford in three weeks’ time, along expected form lines. Six points down at two different stages of that first quarter, Tipperary knew that when chances presented themselves they had the class in the attack to make them count. And so when Eoin Kelly seized upon a break off a Padraic Maher delivery in the 16th minute — and found that Philip Brennan had over committed by needlessly coming off his line when he had a colleague under the dropping ball anyway — for Tipperary’s opening goal, this Munster semi-final took on a completely different complexion.

Goals have become the currency of this Tipperary team and in a five-minute spell they had Brennan reaching to pick the ball from his net three times to smother any early hope that Clare might have harboured of an upset. To their credit, Clare never allowed matters to spiral too much out of control and it was only when Seamus Callanan rammed in a fourth goal late on that it really ran away from them. It will be disappointing then for them to learn that this was their heaviest championship defeat to Tipperary since the infamous 1993 game at the same venue. It certainly won’t have felt like it. They came into this match very much under the radar. Old soldiers feared that if Tipperary really cut loose it could become embarrassing and the lack of faith was underlined by the paucity of the crowd that made the short journey to Limerick to watch them.

But they got a pleasant surprise in that opening quarter as Clare took the fight impressively to the favourites, spurred on by a wonderful goal by Conor McGrath after only 42 seconds. One thing Clare teams could always muster for this fixture was raw passion and it carried them so far here as they threw themselves into tackles with careless abandon. They were 1-3 to 0-0 clear before Tipperary registered a meaningful response and were 1-5 to 0-2 clear when Kelly produced his moment of opportunism. Conor McGrath, making his first championship start, showed electrifying pace to burn John O’Keeffe after taking Nicky O’Connell’s delivery and with a sublime finish had Clare a goal ahead before the All-Ireland champions had time to draw breath.

Conor McGrath was a real livewire in the Clare attack and the Tipperary management didn’t waste time in switching their corner-backs, O’Keeffe and Mickey Cahill, to prevent further leakage. Elsewhere, Conor Cooney and Cian Dillon were dominant against their direct opponents John O’Brien, who has caused so much heartbreak for Clare in this fixture in the past, and Kelly, while Cathal McInerney, Diarmuid McMahon and O’Connell were all productive outlets for them. That lack of faith in Clare was based on sporadic league form and a sense that they were weighed down by inexperience. It was too much, too soon for too many who were too young, it seemed. Whatever experience was provided came from McMahon, captain Pat Vaughan, Jonathan Clancy and Pat Donnellan who were there from Anthony Daly’s days in charge.

Six of the Clare’s starting 15 played some part in the All-Ireland U-21 final two years ago, while eight of their replacements were also involved in some way in that victory over Kilkenny. But once Kelly’s goal went in it was the cue for Tipperary to step up and flex their collective muscle. Within five minutes, Patrick ‘Bonnar’ Maher had surged onto another break and past Pat Vaughan to give Brennan no chance for the second goal before Lar Corbett also got in behind an increasingly stretched defence and struck for a third with Brennan a little unsighted by the presence of Vaughan and Patrick O’Connor in front of him. From six points down Tipperary were now 3-3 to 1-7 clear and in control 20 minutes in. Overtaking had been effortless.

Clare had yet to win a free from a tolerant James Owens who was prepared from an early stage to let the game flow. Such a policy benefited the flow of the game — only 14 frees were awarded — but irked the Clare manager Ger O’Loughlin. He had his accounts neatly prepared afterwards. “For 23 or 24 minutes we were entitled to three frees and we got none and we were well on top,” he reflected. “I’d be very disappointed. I just felt that we didn’t get the rub of the green from the referee. We were only looking for what we thought on the sideline were frees to Clare.” But he was pragmatic enough to appreciate that it was the goals more than the missed frees that swung it most. “Like most hurling matches goals win them and we paid the price of giving away two soft goals to bring them back into it. Against All-Ireland champions like Tipperary there is never a panic button pressed.”

Tipperary built steadily — they led by 3-7 to 1-10 at the break — and Seamus Callanan was again resurgent, finishing with 1-5, while Noel McGrath also chipped in with so many subtle passes. He is now the established leader of the attack. Kelly and Corbett had quiet games by their standards, while David Young and O’Keeffe didn’t get beyond half-time before Declan Ryan applied necessary surgery. Padraic Maher was majestic throughout, particularly during Tipperary’s trouble spots when he exemplified their calmness. Beside him Conor O’Mahony justified his recall, while Paul Curran was dominant on an out-of-sorts Darach Honan. Clare were persistent for most of the second half without ever really making an impression. They survived when Lar Corbett booted a goal from close range but Owens recalled it for a penalty which Kelly took and Donnellan blocked on 40 minutes. Shane McGrath improved as time went on, Pa Bourke fared better than O’Brien when he replaced him and Callanan capped a fine afternoon when he finished from close range in injury-time after Corbett had struck the woodwork from a good position. As much as you would expect from a team in their position.

Scorers — Tipperary: S Callanan 1-5, E Kelly 1-3 (2f), N McGrath 0-3, Patrick Maher, L Corbett 1-0 each, Padraic Maher, G Ryan, S McGrath, P Bourke all 0-2 each. Clare: C McGrath 1-6 (4f), J Conlon 0-3, C McInerney, D McMahon, J Clancy all 0-2 each, J McInerney (f), N O’Connell, F Lynch, D Honan all 0-1 each.

Tipperary — B Cummins 8; J O’Keeffe 5, P Curran 8, M Cahill 7; D Young 5, C O’Mahony 7, Padraic Maher 8; G Ryan 7, S McGrath 7; S Callanan 9, N McGrath 8, Patrick Maher 6; E Kelly 6, J O’Brien 5, L Corbett 6. Subs: S Lillis for Young (h-t), P Stapleton 6 for O’Keeffe (h-t), P Bourke 7 for O’Brien, J Woodlock for Ryan (62), J Coughlan for Curran (70).

Clare — P Brennan 5; P Vaughan 6, C Cooney 8, C Dillon 7; P O’Connor 6, J McInerney 6, P Donnellan 7; N O’Connell 7, J Clancy 8; J Conlon 7, F Lynch 7, C McInerney 7; D McMahon 7, D Honan 5, C McGrath 8. Subs: C O’Donovan 6 for O’Connell (54), C Ryan for Honan (68), C Morey for McMahon (72).

Ref — J Owens (Wexford)

Goal hungry Tipperary march into Munster final

From the GAA.ie web site

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Munster GAA Hurling Championship Semi-Final

Tipperary 4-19 Clare 1-19

Tipperary’s unrivalled ability to find the back of the net helped the All-Ireland champions to a nine-point win over Clare in the Munster GAA Hurling Championship semi-final at Páirc na nGael, Limerick on Sunday. It was the fifth successive Championship match that Tipperary had scored three goals or more as first-half efforts from Eoin Kelly, Lar Corbett and Patrick Maher were added to in injury time by Seamus Callanan, who made a strong case for permanent inclusion in Declan Ryan’s side with 1-5 from play. After a heroic first half effort, which saw the Banner go in just 3-7 to 1-10 down despite leaking three goals in four madcap minutes, Clare visibly tired in the second half and were unable to match Tipperary’s intensity, especially in the third quarter when the Premier men built up a healthy lead which they would not surrender.

Clare gave reason to believe that a shock was on the cards in the first minute when their livewire forward Conor McGrath – who finished the game with 1-6 to his name – sped in for a great goal. They led by 1-3 to 0-0 after 10 minutes before Tipperary ruthlessly exposed the fault lines in the Clare defence with a three-goal burst started by Eoin Kelly in the 16th minute. Although thoroughly tested, Tipperary always had Clare at arm’s length in the second half and they will go into the Munster GAA Championship final against Waterford in confident mood. No doubt, Ger O’Loughlin sent his players out with the instructions to attack Tipperary from the first whistle, for that is exactly what Conor McGrath did. The debutant picked up a loose ball and ran at the heart of the Tipp defence before cracking a shot past Brendan Cummins.

Diarmuid McMahon, Fergal Lynch and another McGrath point had extended Clare’s lead to 1-3 to 0-0 after just eight minutes, giving them the kind of the start they must have dreamed of against the All-Ireland champions. Callanan finally got Tipperary off the mark ten minutes in, but Clare continued to dictate the pace of the game until they were dealt a hammer blow at the end of the first quarter, when their goalkeeper came to collect a long ball that was dropping on the edge of the square. However, he failed to make the catch and the ball fell for Eoin Kelly to sweep into the net. Although Clare responded almost immediately with John Conlon’s first from play – he was tightly marked by the excellent Pádraic Maher in the first half – they were to concede a second goal in the space of three minutes. This time it was Patrick Maher who won a loose ball between the half-back and full-back line and flashed his shot brilliantly past Brennan.

After a brilliant start, all Clare’s hard work was undone when a third Tipperary goal followed almost immediately Player of the Year Corbett again availed of the space afforded him by the Clare defence, ran at Brennan and finished in trademark style. It was Corbett’s 21st Championship goal and it gave his side the lead for the first time, 3-3 to 1-7. Clare might easily have allowed their heads to drop, but Conor McGrath hit two quickfire frees to restore some confidence. McGrath was certainly playing with a swagger, striking 1-3 in the first half alone. Shortly before the break, Clare had a wonderful goal chance when McMahon’s long ball was collected by Cathal McInerney, but his shot was expertly saved by Cummins, who spread his body well to block the ball. Tipp went straight up the other end and Noel McGrath scored the point that gave them a 3-7 to 1-10 half-time lead.

John Conlon and Conor McGrath cut the gap for the Banner on the resumption of play, but Tipperary missed a glorious chance of a fourth goal when Eoin Kelly struck a penalty off the crossbar after Noel McGrath had been fouled in the square. It mattered little, as the Premier men made a bolt for the line with six successive points in the space of eight minutes, giving them a 3-15 to 1-13 lead. The imperious Callanan and Noel McGrath scored two each from play in that period of dominance. Again, Clare showed their spirit and after a string of wides, found their range to hit three in a row. But Tipperary always appeared to have an extra gear and a stunning effort from man of the match Pádraic Maher restored the gap to six points. James McInerney did have a late goal chance for Clare from a 21-yard free, but his shot on goal went over the bar. Indeed, it was Tipperary who added the late grace note when Corbett flashed a shot off a post and Callanan was on hand to mop up from the rebound.

Tipperary Scorers: E Kelly 1-3 (0-2f), S Callanan 1-5, G Ryan 0-2, P Maher 1-0, L Corbett 1-0, Pádraic Maher 0-2, N McGrath 0-3, S McGrath 0-2, P Bourke 0-2.

Clare Scorers: C McGrath 1-6 (0-3f), D McMahon 0-2, F Lynch 0-1, C McInerney 0-2, N O’Connell 0-1, J Conlon 0-3, D Honan 0-1, J Clancy 0-2, J McInerney 0-1 (0-1f).

Tipperary: B Cummins; J O’Keeffe, P Curran, M Cahill; D Young, C O’Mahony Pádraic Maher; G Ryan, S McGrath; S Callanan, N McGrath, Patrick Maher; E Kelly, J O’Brien, L Corbett. Subs: S Lillis for J O’Keeffe (HT), P Stapleton for D Young (HT), P Bourke for J O’Brien (45), J Woodlock for G Ryan (62).

Clare: P Brennan; P Vaughan, C Cooney, C Dillon; P O’Connor, J McInerney, P Donnellan; N O’Connell, J Clancy; J Conlon, F Lynch, C McInerney; D McMahon, D Honan, C McGrath. Subs: C O’Donovan for N O’Connell (55), C Ryan for D Horan (68), C Morey for McMahon (73).

Referee: James Owens (Wexford)

Tipperary 4-19 Clare 1-19

Sunday, 19 June 2011 21:24

By Séamus Leonard for the RTE web site

Tipperary secured a Munster SHC final clash against Waterford but were made to work all the way for it by a brave Clare side at the Gaelic Grounds this afternoon. A Conor McGrath goal inside the first minute gave Clare the perfect start but Tipp hit back with majors from Eoin Kelly, Patrick Maher and Lar Corbett as they engineered a 3-07 to 1-10 interval lead. The Banner never stopped battling and a late Séamus Callanan goal put a gloss on the scoreline the All-Ireland champions scarcely deserved. Clare had been widely written off before throw-in and perhaps Tipperary had listened too intently to the pundits as they were caught napping in the first ten minutes of a typically frenetic Munster encounter.

It took Conor McGrath, who finished with an impressive tally of 1-06 on his Championship debut, just 39 seconds to find the back of the Tipp net. The corner-forward turned his marker John O’Keeffe and showed a clean pair of heels to the Tipp defence before rifling his shot past Brendan Cummins. Points from Diarmuid McMahon, McGrath and Fergal Lynch had the underdogs 1-03 to 0-00 ahead before a point by Eoin Kelly in the tenth minute finally got Tipp on the scoreboard. Clare continued to dominate proceedings before a self-inflicted blow allowed Tipperary gain a foothold in the game in the 16th minute.

Banner goalkeeper Philip Brennan made the ill-advised decision to come for a high ball in, but he failed to claim it and Kelly was on hand to latch onto the breaking ball and notch his 19th Championship goal and cut the deficit to three points. Just three minutes later Brennan was beaten again when Patrick ‘Bonnar’ Maher found himself through on goal and calmly placed his shot between the legs of the onrushing Clare stopper. And a minute later the Premier men were in front for the first time in the match when Hurler of the Year Corbett flashed a trademark bullet to the net to put his side 3-03 to 1-07 ahead. But Clare didn’t panic and two converted frees from McGrath levelled the game by the 24th minute.

Clare had the chance to record their second goal two minutes before the break but Cummins spread himself expertly to deny wing-forward Cathal McInerney, who also making his first Championship start. The second half began evenly enough before Tipperary were dealt a blow by a poor decision by referee James Owens. Noel McGrath kicked the ball to the Clare net but Owens whistled to call play back for a foul. Clare centre-back James McInerney was booked for pulling the hurley from McGrath’s hand. Eoin Kelly stepped up to take the resulting penalty but his powerful effort smashed off the crossbar and the Clare defence scrambled to clear. Callanan began to find his range for Tipp and it was his accuracy that the Premier men had most to thank for the 3-14 to 1-12 lead they had built up the 53rd minute.

It would have been easy for Clare to fold at that stage but two frees from Conor McGrath and another brace of overs from Jonathan Clancy, with a magnificent effort from Tipp’s Callanan sandwiched in-between, saw the Banner draw back to within five points. Tipperary’s shooting had become a problem by that stage and it took a point from substitute Pa Bourke to settle their nerves and stretch their lead to six points – 3-17 to 1-17. Padraic Maher produced a man-of-the-match performance and he capped it off with a sublime long-range point – his second of the day – five minutes from time.

Callanan brought his personal tally to 1-05 (all from play) when he followed up Corbett’s effort to goal before Tipp midfielder Shane McGrath’s second point brought the scoring to a conclusion. A nine-point defeat was more than a little harsh on Clare, but there a number of positives manager Ger ‘Sparrow’ O’Loughlin can take from the game – not least Conor McGrath’s explosion onto the national stage. Tipp will be pleased that the latest hurdle in their quest to retain the Liam MacCarthy Cup has been cleared, though there are still plenty of aspects of their game they can work on. Shooting is sure to be one of them after they hit a total of 13 wides.

Tipperary: B Cummins; J O’Keeffe, P Curran, M Cahill; D Young, C O’Mahony, Padraic Maher (0-02); G Ryan (0-02), S McGrath (0-02); S Callanan (1-05), N McGrath (0-03), Patrick Maher (1-00); E Kelly (1-03, 2f), J O’Brien, L Corbett (1-00).

Subs: S Lillis for O’Keeffe (ht), P Stapleton for D Young (ht), P Bourke (0-02) for O’Brien (45), J Woodlock for Ryan (63), J Coughlan for Curran (70).

Clare: P Brennan; P Vaughan, C Cooney, C Dillon; P O’Connor, J McInerney (0-01, f), P Donnellan; N O’Connell (0-01), J Clancy (0-02); J Conlon (0-03), F Lynch (0-01), C McInerney (0-02); D McMahon (0-02), D Honan (0-01), C McGrath (1-06, 4f).

Subs: C O’Donovan for O’Connell (55), C Ryan for Honan (68).

Referee: James Owens (Wexford)

Team News

The Tipperary Senior Hurling team to play Clare in the Munster senior hurling semi-final at Pairc na nGael, Limerick on Sunday shows one change from the team which defeated Cork in the quarter-final. Conor O’Mahony returns to the starting line-up in place of Paddy Stapleton, who is still recovering from injury. O’Mahony is named at centre back, with Padraic Maher moving to the number 7 position and John O’Keeffe reverting to the full back line in place of Stapleton.

The team is:

1. Brendan Cummins (Ballybacon-Grange)

2. John O’Keeffe (Clonoulty Rossmore)

3. Paul Curran (Mullinahone)

4. Michael Cahill (Thurles Sarsfields)

5. David Young (Toomevara)

6. Conor O’Mahony (Newport)

7. Padraic Maher (Thurles Sarsfields)

8. Gearóid Ryan (Templederry Kenyons)

9. Shane McGrath (Ballinahinch)

10. Seamus Callanan (Drom & Inch)

11. Noel McGrath (Loughmore Castleiney)

12. Patrick Maher (Lorrha & Dorrha)

13. Eoin Kelly (Mullinahone) Captain

14. John O’Brien (Toomevara)

15. Lar Corbett (Thurles Sarsfields)

Clare Senior Hurling Team to play Tipperary on Sunday next in the Munster Senior Hurling Semi-Final shows 3 Players making their Championship Debut, Patrick O Connor from Tubber lines out at Wing Back. and the Cratloe Club mates Cathal McInerney at Wing Forward and Conor McGrath at Corner Forward. Philip Brennan is back in goal having played most of the League campaign as Sub keeper to Donal Touhy, Conor Cooney lines out at Full Back, Darach Honan has recovered from a groin injury to man the edge of the square. Clare are bidding for a place in the Munster final, their last was in 2008

Clare Hurling Team v Tipperary Munster Hurling Championship 2011-06-19.

1. Philip Brennan P.O.Braoinin Tulla
2. Pat Vaughan (capt) P.O. Beachain Crusheen
3. Conor Cooney C.O.Cuana O.Callaghans Mills
4. Cian Dillon C.O.Diolin Crusheen
5. Patrick O Connor P.O.Concubhair Tubber
6. James McInerney S.Mac an Airchinnigh Newmarket
7. Patrick Donnellan P.O.Domhnallain O.Callaghans Mills
8. Nicky O Connell N.O.Conaill Clonlara
9. Jonothan Clancy S.MacLannchaidh Clarecastle
10. John Conlon S.O.Conallain Clonlara
11. Fergal Lynch F.O.Lionsigh Clooney Quin
12. Cathal McInerney C.Mac anAirchinnigh Cratloe
13. Diarmuid McMahon D.MacMathuna Kilmaley
14. Darach Honan D.O.hEoghanain Clonlara
15. Conor McGrath C.MacGraith Cratloe

16. Donal Touhy D.O.Tuathaigh Crusheen
17. Eamon Glynn E. MacFhloin Inagh Kilnamona.
18. Mark Earley M.O.Earlaigh Tubber
19. Brendan Bugler B.O.Bolguir Whitegate
20. Cathal Chaplin C.O.Seiplin Broadford
21. Gerry Quinn G.O.Cuinn Corofin
22. Sean Collins S.O.Coileain Cratloe
23. Colin Ryan C.O.Riain Newmarket
24. Liam Markham L.O.Marchain Cratloe
25. Camin Morey C.O.Mora Sixmilebridge
26. Cormac O Donnovan C.O.Donobhainn Clonlara

Manager : Ger O Loughlin ( Clarecastle)
Selectors : Danny Chaplin ( Broadford) . Liam Doyle ( Bodyke)
Liasion Officer : Pat Fitzgerald
Medical Officer : Dr Padraic Quinn M.D
Physio : Abbey Physio.

Match Coverage

This game will be shown live on TV3

When – Sunday June 19^th at 4:00pm

Where – Gaelic Grounds Limerick

Referee – TBC

Replay date – June 26^th

Next Round – the winners qualify for the Munster Final on Sunday July 10th

Admission Prices –
Covered Stand – €30
Uncovered Stand – €25
Terrace – €15
Family – Adult €30 / €25 – Juveniles €5
Juvenile Groups – There will be a limited number of Juvenile Group Stand tickets available for this game – €3 per Juvenile with a free Adult with every 10 children. Orders through clubs only in the participating counties.
Adult Group Stand Tickets – Tickets at the end of both stands – €25 per person ordered only through clubs – minimum order per Club is 10.
Group Terrace Tickets – €10 each with a minimum order of 20 tickets per Club
Student/OAP – Concession on Stand Tickets only – pay full price and get a refund of €10 at specified Stiles on the day (on production of I.D.)

Munster GAA would like to confirm that student discounts apply to all students who present valid ID cards. In relation to Second Level students we are aware that schools don’t produce cards but they can get Student travel Cards from USIT offices or from www.studenttravelcard.ie. Alternately, Secondary students can get an ISSU scholar card from www.studentcard.ie or International student ID card from www.isic.org. Unfortunately the scheme has been much abused in the past and we were forced to seek ID cards from all patrons attempting to avail of the discount. This is in keeping with other bodies such as Irish Rail and Bus Eireann.
For the Record

2011 Munster Senior Hurling Championship Matches played to date

Tipperary 2-22 Cork 0-23 – May 29^th @ Semple Stadium Thurles (Munster Quarter-Final)

Tipperary: B Cummins; P Stapleton, P Curran, M Cahill; D Young, Pádraic Maher, J O’Keeffe; G Ryan, S McGrath; S Callanan, N McGrath, Patrick Maher; E Kelly, J O’Brien, L Corbett.
Subs: J Woodlock for S McGrath ‘40, C O’Mahony for Young ‘59, B Dunne for O’Brien ‘62, P Bourke for Ryan ‘66.

Cork: D Óg Cusack; S McDonnell, E Cadogan, S O’Neill; J Gardiner, W Egan, B Murphy; L McLoughlin, P Cronin; B O’Connor, C McCarthy, N McCarthy; L Farrell, P O’Sullivan, P Horgan. Subs: J O’Connor for C McCarthy ‘45, J Nagle for O’Neill ‘45, T Kenny for McLoughlin ‘51, C Naughton for Horgan ‘70, K Murphy for O’Sullivan ‘70.

Referee: Brian Gavin (Offaly)

Waterford 3-15 Limerick 3-14 – June 12^th @ Semple Stadium Thurles (Munster Semi-Final)

Limerick: N Quaid; D Reale, S Hickey, T Condon; W McNamara, B Geary, G O’Mahony; D O’Grady, P Browne; J Ryan, R McCarthy, N Moran; S Tobin, K Downes, G Mulcahy.
Subs: D Moloney for Reale (59), P Tobin for McCarthy (65), D Breen for S Tobin (66).

Waterford: C Hennessy; D Fives, W Hutchinson, N Connors; T Browne, M Walsh, K Moran; S O’Sullivan, D O’Sullivan; P Mahony, S Molumphy, M Shanahan; J Mullane, S Walsh, B O’Sullivan.
Subs: J Nagle for Hutchinson (54), S Prendergast for Shanhan (59), E Kelly for Mahony (66).

Referee: Barry Kelly (Westmeath)

2011 Top Scorers – Munster Senior Hurling Championship
Pat Horgan (Cork) 0-13 (0-10 frees)
Eoin Kelly (Tipperary) 1-7 (0-5 frees)
John Mullane (Waterford) – 2-2
Paraic Mahony (Waterford) – 0-7 (0-4 frees)
Kevin Downes (Limerick) – 2-1
Lar Corbett (Tipperary) – 1-2
Seamus Callanan (Tipperary) – 0-5
Shane Walsh (Waterford) – 1-1
Noel McGrath (Tipperary) – 0-4 (0-2 sideline cut)
Niall Moran (Limerick) – 0-4
Benny Dunne (Tipperary) – 1-0
Niall McCarthy (Cork) – 0-3
Ben O’Connor (Cork) – 0-3
Donal O’Grady (Limerick) – 0-3
Richie McCarthy (Limerick) – 0-3 (0-3 frees)
Wayne McNamara (Limerick) – 1-0
John O’Brien (Tipperary) – 0-2
Maurice Shanahan (Waterford) – 0-2
Brian O’Sullivan (Waterford) – 0-2

Shane O’Sullivan (Waterford), Patrick Maher (Tipperary), James Woodlock (Tipperary), John Gardiner (Cork), Pat Cronin (Cork), Cian McCarthy (Cork), Paudie O’Sullivan (Cork), Brian Geary (Limerick – 0-1 free), Graeme Mulcahy (Limerick), David Breen (Limerick) – 0-1 each

Munster GAA HURLING Senior Championship 2011

Quarter-Final
Sunday May 29^th

@ Semple Stadium Thurles           Tipperary 3-22 Cork 0-23

Semi-Finals
Sunday June 12^th

@ Semple Stadium Thurles           Waterford 3-15 Limerick 3-14

Sunday June 19^th (Replay date – June 26^th)

@ Gaelic Grounds Limerick           Clare v Tipperary 4:00pm

Final

Sunday July 10^th (Replay date – July 17^th)

Waterford v Clare or Tipperary
4:00pm throw-in
@ Semple Stadium Thurles or Pairc Ui Chaoimh

Useful Information

Clare have failed to record a Munster Championship victory in 6 of the last 7 seasons.

Clare have not drawn a match in the Munster Senior Hurling Championship since finishing level with Tipperary in 1999.

Waterford have qualified for 8 of the last 14 Munster Finals including the last 3 (1998, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011). This is in contrast to the previous 31 Munster Finals between 1967 and 1997 during which time Waterford qualified just 3 times, losing on each occasion in 1982, 1983 and 1989).

Cork will not be involved in either the 2011 Munster Minor Hurling or 2011 Munster Senior Hurling Final for the second time in three years. Previous to 2009, the last time a Cork team were not represented on Munster Hurling Final day was 1997.

Waterford is the only Munster county to have at least 1 victory in the last 3 Munster Senior Hurling Championships.

John Mullane’s first goal for Waterford in the 2011 Munster Semi-Final v Limerick snapped a record of 153 minutes with scoring a goal against Limerick in the Munster Championship.

Cork and Tipperary proved to have the meanest defenses in the 2011 Allianz Hurling League, conceding 5 goals each. Limerick conceded 6 goals and Waterford 7 goals putting those 4 Munster counties at the top of the charts when it comes to the least concession of goals in Divisions 1 and 2. Oddly, Allianz Hurling League Division 1 champions Dublin conceded 14 goals during their campaign, an amount exceeded by only Down and Kerry in the top 2 divisions of the Allianz Hurling League.

The improvement in the defences of Munster counties can be attributed to the decline in the average scores per match in the last 3 seasons in the Munster Senior Hurling Championship –

2008 (40 scores per match), 2009 (36 scores per match), 2010 (34 scores per match).

Over the last 2 seasons (2009 and 2010), Semple Stadium Thurles has played host to 7 of the 10 Munster Senior Hurling Championship matches played. Pairc Ui Chaoimh hosted 2 matches while Pairc nan Gael in Limerick hosted 1 game.

Cork lost their 3 away matches in the Allianz Hurling League to Kilkenny, Wexford and Waterford. Since Cork’s 2008 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship Quarter-Final victory over Clare in Thurles, Cork’s Senior Hurling Championship record in matches played outside of Pairc Ui Chaoimh is Played 9, Won 2, Drew 1, Lost 6. The two victories came against Antrim (2010) and Offaly (2009).

Cork and Tipperary have met on 81 occasions in the Championship. Cork have won 37, Tipperary 36 and there have been 7 draws. 1 match was abandoned.

In the history of Tipperary and Cork matches in the Munster Senior Hurling Championship, on only 1 occasion did a game fail to produce a goal. That game in the 1900 Munster First Round game played at Dungarvan on November 4^th 1901 and resulted in a 0-12 to 0-9 victory for Tipperary.

Limerick have won 1 of the last 16 Munster Senior Hurling Championship matches they have played, an extra-time victory over Tipperary in the 2007 Munster Semi-Final 2^nd replay at the Gaelic Grounds. During that period, Limerick have drawn 5 times. Limerick’s last Championship victory away from the Pairc na nGael came in 2001 with victories over Cork and Waterford at Pairc Ui Chaoimh.

Tipperary’s Eoin Kelly was the top scorer in the 2010 Provincial and All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championships, scoring 3-43. Cork’s Ben O’Connor was 3^rd with 2-31 while Eoin Kelly of Waterford was 5^th with a tally of 1-27.

Limerick and Tipperary have both lost 26 Munster Senior Hurling Finals. Cork have lost 29.

Munster GAA HURLING Senior Championship Roll Of Honour

Cork (50) – 1890, 1892, 1893, 1894, 1901, 1902, 1903, 1904, 1905, 1907, 1912, 1915, 1919, 1920, 1926, 1927, 1928, 1929, 1931, 1939, 1942, 1943, 1944, 1946, 1947, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1956, 1966, 1969, 1970, 1972, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1990, 1992, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006

Tipperary (38) – 1895, 1896, 1898, 1899, 1900, 1906, 1908, 1909, 1913, 1916, 1917, 1922, 1924, 1925, 1930, 1937, 1941, 1945, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1958, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1967, 1968, 1971, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1993, 2001, 2008, 2009

Limerick (18) – 1897, 1910, 1911, 1918, 1921, 1923, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1940, 1955, 1973, 1974, 1980, 1981, 1994, 1996

Waterford (9) – 1938, 1948, 1957, 1959, 1963, 2002, 2004, 2007, 2010

Clare (6) – 1889, 1914, 1932, 1995, 1997, 1998

Kerry (1) – 1891

Munster GAA HURLING Senior Championship – List of Winning Teams

Visit the Munster GAA web site History section to view the complete list of each winning team since the competition began 1888 – https://munster.gaa.ie/history/sh_teams/

Munster Senior HURLING Cup

No Name – Presented by Munster Council in 1928, new cup presented in 1990

All Ireland GAA HURLING Senior Championship

In the Senior Hurling All Ireland Roll of Honour, Cork are second on the list with 30 titles, 2 behind Kilkenny. Tipperary have won 26 All-Ireland titles and are the defending champions. Limerick have 7 titles, their last one in 1973. Clare have won 3 titles in 1914, 1995 and 1997 while Waterford’s two titles came in 1948 and 1959. Kerry won the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Final in 1891.

Contact Munster GAA PRO Ed Donnelly at pro.munster@gaa.ie for more information